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Wells Fargo, US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Honor Three Asian-Owned Small Businesses


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America’s #1 small business lender recognizes business owners from Arizona, San Francisco and Virginia

Celebrating the continued success of Asian business owners - growing at twice the national average - Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce (USPAACC) will recognize three Asian entrepreneurs with the 4th annual Asian Business Leadership Award. Each winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize and be honored at USPAACC’s 22nd annual Asian American Business Conference in San Francisco on May 11, 2007.

The three awardees were selected from a nationwide pool of applicants and evaluated based on their innovation, financial success, and community service. The 2007 winners include:

* Arizona-based Cascade Springs LLC - Leniwati M. Siker
* San Francisco-based Sugar Bowl Bakery - Andrew Ly and Ly Brothers Corporation
* Virginia-based Harlan Lee & Associates LLC- Harlan Lee

“Each year we’re inspired by the dedication, innovation and continued success of Asian business owners nationwide,” said Iris Chan, head of Commercial Banking at Wells Fargo and national spokesperson for the Asian Business Services program. “This year’s winners truly reflect the strength, diversity, and character of this growing market and we’re honored to celebrate their tremendous achievements.”

Wells Fargo launched the Asian Business Services program in 2002 to provide outreach, education and increased access to capital to Asian business owners. The program focuses on forming community alliances, investing in primary research, and sponsoring key events in the diverse communities where Asian business owners live and work.

Measuring its progress with a public goal to lend $3 billion to Asian businesses within 10 years (by 2012), Wells Fargo has lent more than $2 billion to Asian business owners since the program’s inception in 2002.

“Through our partnership with Wells Fargo, we’re pleased to recognize and share in the success stories of these very special Asian business owners,” said Susan Au Allen, National President and CEO of USPAACC. “Asian business owners continue to thrive and achieve throughout the country and we applaud them for their accomplishments, contributions and service to their communities.”

Cascade Springs LLC is an Arizona-based water bottling manufacturer with headquarters in Wisconsin. Established in 2004, Cascade Springs is the only Asian-minority and woman-owned water bottling manufacturer in the United States. Owner Leniwati (Leni) M. Siker started the company after she moved to the United States from Indonesia and was inspired by the growing trend in America to live a healthy lifestyle. After using her entire savings to open the first bottling plant, within just three months, she secured a multi-year contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Arizona Customs Protection and Border Patrol. Under her leadership, the company experienced tremendous growth and, in just two years, Cascade Springs was producing 45 million units of bottled water a year.

In 1984, five ambitious brothers pooled their savings together and opened a small neighborhood coffee shop in San Francisco. After years of hard work and determination under the leadership of President and CEO Andrew Ly, Ly Brothers Corporation DBA Sugar Bowl Bakery is now a successful bakery chain that includes five retail operations, a food service division, a wedding cake division, and a retail product line. The bakery offers a complete line of high-quality, hand-crafted baked goods that are distributed nationally as well internationally. As one of the largest family- and minority-owned bakeries in Northern California, Sugar Bowl Bakery offers over 400 hundred desserts and continues to serve the needs of its growing customer base.

Harlan Lee & Associates LLC (HLA) started in 1996 as a one-man business consulting company after Harlan Lee retired from the U.S. State Department after a 27-year career in the foreign service. Based in Falls Church Virginia, HLA offers quality business services including technical, conference management and administrative services for various government organizations. HLA specializes in socially conscious, “green conferencing” techniques such as selecting hotels and meeting sites close to mass transit and accommodations that include in-house recycling. The company has organized State Department export control workshops in Australia and Malta, supported a United Nations conference on Hawaii’s tsunami system following the 2004 tsunami and worked with the Federal Ocean US program on a wide range of events, including training workshops and planning sessions.



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